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Age of Sigmar, Fantasy, Games Workshop, New Releases, Peter Holland, Reviews

Woehammer Reviews: Generals Handbook 23-24

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I’ve decided to run through the handbook and make some uneducated notes on what I think we’ll see in the competitive community.

Warning! This will Age badly!!

Want a copy of the Handbook? Why not purchase one from one of our affiliates and help support the site….

Elementgames (UK)

Not Just Gamin’ (US)

Special Rules

One with the Land

Wizard Heroes with a wounds characteristic of 9 or less and are not unique gain the Andtorian Locus keyword.

Optimal Focus

Credit to Games Workshop via Warhammer Community

Primal Magic

At the start of the hero phase both players roll a dice. For each 4+, each player receives 1 Primal Magic Dice.

Note: This reads as 1 player rolls 4+, and then both they and their opponent receive the Primal Magic Dice. If they both roll 4+, they both receive 2 dice.

After a player attempts to cast or unbind a spell or endless spell they can roll 1 of their Primal Magic Dice. If they do so, add the result to their roll. The player can continue to roll Primal Magic Dice until they suffer a Primal Magic Miscast or have run out of Primal Magic Dice.

Note: The Primal Magic Dice can be used by any wizards and not just Andtorian Locus. One model I can see benefitting greatly from this is Gobsprakk in the Kruleboyz, who’ll be able to add another dice to his unbind and dispel attempts. This will give him a greater chance of causing mortal wounds against wizards. It will also mean that when using Mandrakk, he could use 4d6 on the dispel, almost guaranteeing the D6 mortals against the enemy caster. What does seem a little busted at this stage is whether Primal Magic Dice count towards the casting roll for ability effects, which cause mortal wounds.

Abilities that allow you to re-roll casting, unbinding, or dispelling rolls must be used before using any Primal Magic Dice. Any such re-rolls cannot be supplemented with the Primal Magic Dice, and any such Dice that remain at the end of the battle round are lost.

Primal Miscast

Rolls which have had Primal Magic Dice added to the result will have a chance of miscasting. This occurs when two or more of the dice are rolled as unmodified 1’s.

The spell is not cast and the caster suffers D3+3 mortal wounds as a result. Any units within 3″ of the caster also suffer D3 mortal wounds. In addition, the caster cannot cast any further spells that phase.

Likewise, if two or more of the dice on a roll which includes Primal Magic Dice are 6’s the spell cannot be unbound, however the caster cannot cast any further spells that phase and both players receive 1 additional Primal Magic Dice.

Realmsphere Magic

You can pick 1 spell from the Lore of Primal Frost for each Andtorian Locus in your army instead of picking 1 spell from another Lore they know.

Hoarfrost

Credit to Games Workshop via Warhammer Community

Note: This spell could be particularly effective on screens or units that are already benefitting from buffs to their to hit or to wound rolls. Once again Kruleboyz and more specifically, Hobgrots could benefit from the increase in damage, kicking out 5-6 successes with 2-3 damage each. Or reinforced Giant Rats with 24 attacks at rend -5 anyone!? Zombies hitting on 2’s?!

Giant Rats Stonks

Rupture

Rupture is a spell that has a casting value of 10 and range of 18″. If successfully cast pick 1 predatory endless spell or Incarnate wholly within range and visible to the caster. The target immediately becomes wild and cannot be picked to be bonded or controlled for the rest of the battle.

Note: Not as effective as you’d first imagine, as pointed out by PlasticCraic, owners of Incarnates are usually very keen for their Krondspines to go wild as early as possible. However, IF an opponent as chosen Magic made Manifest as their grand strategy this would be a useful spell in your pocket.

Merciless Blizzard

Merciless Blizzard has a casting value of 12 and a range of 12″. If successfully cast pick 1 enemy unit within range and visible to the caster. That unit suffers 4D6 mortal wounds, but for each roll of 1 the caster suffers D3 mortal wounds that cannot be negated (No ward saves).

Command Traits

The following command traits can only be chosen for your General if they are an Andtorian Locus.

Shaman of the Chilled Lands

This General knows all the spells from the Lore of Primal Frost.

Eye of the Blizzard

At the start of your hero phase, if your general is on the battlefield roll a dice. On. A 5+ you gain 1 Primal Magic Dice.

Chilled to the Bone

Once per battle, if this general suffers a miscast or primal miscast roll 1 dice. On 3+, the general can ignore the effects of the miscast or primal miscast.

Eater of Magic

Each time this general successfully unbinds a spell roll a dice. On 5+, the caster no longer knows that spell and cannot cast it for the remainder of the battle.

Note: I can see this one being the most commonly taken of the Command Traits from the book. Though whether the benefits are enough for players to choose an Andtorian Locus as their general remains to be seen. The chance to remove spells permanently, such as Spellsinger (Sylvaneth).

Nullstone Adornments

Nullstone Adornments are unique enhancements that can only be included in armies that do not contain any wizards. One can be given to a hero in your army who does not have an Artefact of Power. If you have the ability to take two enhancements you can do so from the table below, but each enhancement can only be included once in your army, and no hero can possess more than one Nullstone Adornment or Artefact of Power.

Note: This is a great little addition for those armies without any wizards such as Blades of Khorne or Fyreslayers. Allowing them to get involved in magic without having to ally in wizards.

Hand-carved Nullstone Icon

The bearer can attempt to unbind one spell or attempt to dispel one endless spell in the enemy hero phase in the same manner as a wizard. Each time the bearer is successful using this ability, the bearer can attempt to dispel one additional spell that phase.

Pouch of Nulldust

Once per battle, at the start of the hero phase, you can say that the bearer will use their pouch of Nulldust. If you do so, until the end of that phase unmodified casting rolls of double 1’s, 2’s or 3’s are treated as miscast, or if a Primal Magic Dice was used as part of the cast, a Primal Miscast. In addition, roll a dice for each endless spell on the battlefield. On a 5+, that endless spell is dispelled.

Note: Once per game, but timed right, it could put a serious dent into your opponent’s spellcasting. However, I suspect that the Hand-carved Nullstone Icon will likely be the go-to adornment for non-wizard armies.

Polished Nullstone Pebble

When this unit is picked as the target of a spell or the abilities of an endless spell, you can roll a dice. On a 4+, the caster must pick another unit within 3″ of this unit and within range of the spell or the Endless Spells abilities to be the target. If there are no other units within 3″, ignore the spell or endless spell effects instead.

Core Battalions

Andtorian Acolytes

Must include at least two Andtorian Locus units and can include up to three Andtorian Locus units.

At the start of the battle, if there are two or more Andtorian Locus units in this battalion roll a dice. On 3+ you gain 1 Primal Magic Dice.

Wizard Finders of Andtor

Must include 1 hero that is not a wizard with 10 wounds or less, as well as 1 infantry unit with a wounds characteristic of 4 or less and is not Leader, Artillery or Behemoth and does not have mounts. It can include an additional infantry unit as described above, as well as a Behemoth unit that is not a leader.

Each time a unit from this battalion is chosen to fight, it may go on a wizard hunt. If it does so, add 1 attack to one of its melee profiles until the end of that phase. But all the attacks of that hit in that phase must target a wizard.

Grand Strategies

Control the Nexus

At the end of the battle, this is achieved if 2 or more friendly wizard units are within 6″ of the centre of the battlefield.

Spellcasting Savant

When the battle ends, if you have chosen an Andtorian Locus as your general, you score this Grand Strategy if your general is still alive.

Slaughter of Sorcery

You complete this Grand Strategy if there are no wizard units on the battlefield at the end of the game.

Barren Icescape

At the end of the battle, if all enemy units with Artefacts of Power and no enemy units are within 6″ of the centre of the board, you complete this Grand strategy.

Overshadow

This grand strategy of completed if, at the end of the battle, all enemy battleline units are destroyed, and you have at least one battleline unit remaining.

Magic made Manifest

Gained at the end of the battle if two or more endless spells/incarnates remain on the battlefield bonded to friendly units.

Battle Tactics

Intimidate the Invaders

Achieved at the end of the turn if their are more friendly units outside of your territory that there are inside it.

Reprisal

You complete this tactic if an enemy unit that destroyed a friendly general earlier in the Battle is destroyed this turn.

Endless Expopriation

You score this tactic if an enemy bonded endless spell or Incarnate is either bonded to one of your own units, are wild, or the controlling enemy unit has been destroyed.

Magical Dominance

You score this tactic if a friendly wizard was able to cast at least one spell and none of your spells were dispelled or unbound.

Note: This may be easier to score as the game progresses and enemy wizards are destroyed. Or if your enemy chooses an army without any wizards in its list and does not include the Hand-carved Nullstone Icon. It could be a good one to keep for the late game.

Magical Mayhem

Pick 1 enemy unit on the battlefield. You score this tactic, of that unit is destroyed by a spell or endless spell.

Note: One of the few battle tactics that armies without spell casters cannot achieve. Armies such as Fyreslayers or Blades of Khorne will struggle here without an allied wizard.

Bait and Trap

You complete this tactic if two or more friendly units retreated this turn, and two or more friendly units charged this turn.

Led into the Maelstrom

You complete this tactic if 1 or more friendly heroes and 1 or more friendly battleline units made a charge move this turn, and at least one of those units is within 3″ of an enemy unit.

Surround and Destroy

Pick three different friendly units, you complete this tactic at the end of your turn if each unit is within 6″ of different battlefield edges and two or more are outside of your territory.

Conclusions

In general, the battleplans seem to be a lot more fun this season, aside from one or two, which have negative effects on one or two factions, as mentioned below. The battle tactics seem easier thus time around and should mean those without newer tomes published in the last year can still compete.

With the battleplan Power Flux which awards VPs for slaying wizards, I can see the Lumineth being left on the shelf by top-tier players in favour of other armies.

Nighthaunt likewise may not see much play with Every Step is Forward meaning they can’t retreat and contest objectives, and Frigid Zephyr battleplan turning off their ability to fly.

Ossiarch Bonereapers command trait teachings of the tithe-reapers (first spell successfully cast by the general cannot be unbound) just became even better!

Units which could be seeing a lot more play over the next year, may be;

  • Gobsprakk (Kruleboyz)
  • Warsong (Sylvaneth)
  • Gaunt Summoners (Tzeentch)
  • Slaughterpriest (Khorne)
  • Cheapo Screens (all factions)
Games Workshop, New Releases, Reviews, Sci-Fi, Tyranids, Warhammer 40k

Leviathan – Tyranids

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I have already taken a quick look at the other contents in the box, now it is time to takea look at the models, starting with the Hive Mind’s offering. I will not be putting the full datasheets into this article so if you would like to look at them in full for yourself then here is the Link.

Winged Tyranid Prime

The new variant and apparently a replacement for the original ‘Lieuntenant’ of the swarm, the Tyranid Prime. The datasheets for Tyranids that recently dropped appear to mix the original Prime into the Warriors datasheet so no longer a standalone unit.

One key thing to notice here is yes, this is a character but NO it does not appear to have the Lone Operative keyword. This means the Winged Prime can be targetted unless it is leading a unit, which it can do as it has the Leader keyword.
It is also fairly squishy with only 6 wounds, toughness 5 and a 4+ save (no natural invulnerable save). So if you intend to use one of these I suggest mixing it into a unit. I personally will be trying Gargoyles first to retain the movement. The other options are the two Tyranid Warrior squad types but I feel it’s mobility is the Winged Prime’s biggest advantage.

Damage wise, it is making 6 Attacks at Strength 6 and AP of -1 so nothing too special but at damage 2 and combined with the sustained hits it gains when part of a unit I could see big chunks being taken out of infantry squads. If all non gene-enhanced infantry are still toughness 3 then that’s an average of 8 damage before saves (unfortunately only 4 single wound models though). That is 6 damage against your standard issue marine (toughness 4) so 3 dead marines before those annoying save rolls.

Neurotyrant

Very much a strategic unit who, again, will need to be embedded to stop it being too squishy. Less so than the Winged Prime at toughness 8, 4+ save (with a 4+ invulnerable built-in) and 9 wounds but still not the most survivable.

Damage wise, you are going to be mincing up some squishy brains here. A swingy Psychic Scream doing 2D6 attacks at strength 5 and AP -1 can be good against infantry, especially as it auto-hits. At 2 damage per attack that is an average of 9-10 damage (or 5ish marines) against a toughness 4 opponent before save rolls.
In melee it is almost the same – 6 attacks at strength 5 hitting on 3’s and no AP so less average output than the scream. Basically keep everything at arm’s tentacle’s length and scream like an angry toddler.

I would suggest surrounding it with some chaff like the neurogaunts to take a few bullets until you use it to buff your Shadow in the Warp ability. Battleshock seems to be the big thing this edition so don’t underestimate it.

Von Ryan’s Leapers

The new boy’s in the box (which I wanted to be Lictors) who come with a weird name – I am sure they will be just called leapers by the community at large. I see these as shock troopers, filling the role that genestealers did in the last edition (and doing it slightly better).

With 6 attacks each, hitting on 3s and strength 5 they are enough to scare most infantry squads. Deploying them deep will act as a deterrent to your opponent from committing anything squishy to objectives early on. The fight first ability will especially work in your favour here if you don’t get first turn.
However at toughness 5 with a 4+ save (6+ invulnerable) they are squishy, even with the addition of Stealth giving them -1 to hit so make sure they are well hidden.

Another option is to use them defensively, using their Pouncing Leap (heroic intervention) and high mobility to intervene on behalf of units that aren’t so good at melee.

Psychophage

I do like me a monster, and this one I particularly like. The Psychophage is perfectly designed to get right into the mix. In fact, as it is only toughness 9, 10 wounds and a base save of 3+ (no invulnerable), you will want to get into combat and away from shooting fairly quick (or be good at hide and seek).

The Psychoclastic Torrent is a psychic flamer, doing D6 attacks at strength 6 and AP of -1. Then, getting into close combat, it’s Talons do D6+1 attacks at strength 6. These do hit on a 3+ but if you can reduce your target below starting strength using the torrent before charging this becomes a 2+. It will also gain +1 to wound if the target is below half strength, this may be an incentive to let another unit hit the target first. The damage output will be swingy but combined with Devastating Wounds on melee the Psychophage should be tearing up some squishy infantry with no issues.

You will also want to keep it mixed into your swarms as every friendly unit within 6″ gains a 6+ Feel No Pain courtesy of the Bio-stimulus aura.

Termagants
The steadfast cannon fodder of the hive mind. Some use them purely as a shield or objective holder but I have always liked bringing these in decent numbers and buffing them to become a real pain to my opponent.

I personally take the Fleshborers on my termagants for the additional strength. Being strength 5 means typically a 3+ to wound roll against most infantry types and the addition of the assault keyword allows decent mobility and board presence.
They are only 1 wound and toughness 3 so if you do want to use them as more than a meat shield I suggest pairing them with a Tervigon, for the regular respawn, or the Psycophage, for the 6+ Feel No Pain.

Ripper Swarms
Rippers are getting a brand new model. In the past these have been used for holding your own home objective or dropping in late to steal one. I can see them being used for this still however I can see an additional use as an objective denial. They have an Objective Control characteristic of 0 themselves but they have an ability called Chitinous Horrors which halves this in engaged enemies. My thinking is they can deepstrike and charge in to interfere with a contested objective, denying your opponent victory points in their next command phase.

They are not to be relied upon for damage, as they only hit on a 5+ in both melee and shooting, so they are probably just going to be used for objective control or denial.

Neurogaunts

Another unit similar to Ripper Swarms in that they have a specific purpose but will likely not do any damage to your opponent. I would likely use these as shields for characters, like the Neurotyrant, or as a synapse extender. They could even do both with some clever positioning, just remember to comply with unit coherency.

With no shooting available these guys rely on their single melee attack hitting on a 4+ at strength 3. In large numbers they could do some damage to infantry but they will only be a meat shield for your character against tougher opponents.

Barbgaunts

As an anti-infantry artillery unit the Barbgaunts can play a key role in maintaining board control. The Bio-cannon is fairly decent against typical infantry but will be swingy as it is D6 shots. Though with hitting on a 4+ and strength 5 any hits that are made should be effective. My suggestion (depending on points value) is to go for 10 of these, or two squads of 5, to maximise shots.

However the best value from these is their Disruption Bombardment ability – giving a reduction of 2″ to movement values, charge rolls and advance rolls. This only takes a single hit to an infantry unit and especially frustrating to your opponent if combined with the Fire Overwatch stratagem to stop that deep striking unit amking a clutch charge.

Screamer-Killer

I love this model and I cannot wait to get my hands on it. As for it’s use on the battlefield this unit will be very good against infantry, with it’s high number of attacks, whilst also being strong enough for the more elite models.

The Bio-plasmic Scream is only strength 8, so less useful against Dreadnaughts (Toughness 10), and slightly swingy with it’s D6+3 attacks but with AP-2 you should do some damage. However the nice thing about this weapon is that a single hit will force a battleshock test. Failing this will cause your opponent to lose buffs and that key Objective Control characteristic, allowing you to steal a contested objective.

Melee will be the most deadly use for the Screamer-Killer. Having 10 attacks, hitting on 3s at strength 10. Add in an AP of -2 you are only looking at a probable 5 damage to something like the Ballistus Dreadnaught. However put him against a squad of Terminators and you are looking at an average of 3 dead in a single round.

That would be my way to use it, send it after the objectives secured by elite or normal infantry and either clear it out or take it by battleshock.

So, in summary, there are a lot of beautiful xenomorphs in this box and each of them with a viable role. I hope this is indicative of the new edition, with more viable competitive list options to give some variety in the opponents you face. But we shall see.
As always, hop on over to our Discord and let us know what you think!

Where to Buy
GW have announced it will be available for a two-week preorder from Saturday 10th June, I have included GWs times below. I always advocate supporting your local independent stockists, following the idea of Pay where you play, but if you are looking for somewhere, and would like to support Woehammer, we do have a couple of affiliate links:

US
Not Just Gamin’ will be offering the Leviathan box with a 15% discount!

UK
Element Games will also be offering the Leviathan box at 15% below the RRP

Games Workshop, Ian Humpage, New Releases, Reviews, Sci-Fi, Warhammer 40k

Leviathan – Our thoughts on the box

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So everyone and their dog has heard about the Leviathan box over the past few months. It is a massive box, GW claim (once again) that it is the “Biggest Warhammer release in history!”

Looking at the pictures, there is no denying the amount contained, so let’s take a look at what you get.

I will dive into the miniatures in two more articles, one for marines and one for tyranids, but let’s take a look at everything else first.

Exclusive Warhammer 40,000 Leviathan Rulebook
This is typical and essential for a new edition launch box. There’s no point in having the box if you don’t get the new rules for the game. I had the 9th edition launch box, and the rulebooks contained are always of nice quality, chunky enough to rob a bank*, and the imagery makes it suitable for display. I have to say, though, the image of a terminators helmet with the Leviathan logos is not quite as nice as the logo free Guilliman/Abaddon duel image on the 9th book. But that’s just me!

Chapter Approved Leviathan Mission Deck
Now, this is what I am most interested in, having exclusively played Tempest of War since it’s release in 9th. I don’t think I have seen the community as united as they were over the positive reception of this format. It looks like GW has listened to the feedback and decided to make the mission generator the main way to play the game.
If you have played Tempest, then this looks to be exactly the same, apart from the addition of Gambits. Everything can be generated at the start of the game, and you can either have fixed secondary missions or tactical secondary missions (greater reward but constant change). The interesting thing here is that both sides can choose either type of secondary. They don’t have to be the same.
They have stated that tournaments may generate these missions ahead of time, but that will come down to the organiser. It does make sense for competitive play, but I will be interested to see how list building changes for tournaments that are randomised for every game.

I also love the addition of the Gambit mechanic. I need to play to really get a feel for it but the idea of being able to scrap your primary and try for a hail mary when you don’t think you can win feeds my love of cinematic moments in games. It is also very 40k that the example they give is basically turning everything to ash.
The idea is that at the end of the third battle round, you may play a secretly chosen gambit card from your Gambit deck. It isn’t made clear whether this is chosen at the start or at this point. Whilst the gambits can give you a large boost in points, it does look like meeting the terms of the card won’t guarantee you the points. The example below relies on a dice roll to complete it, and even meeting all the terms only gives you a 42% chance of succeeding.

Space Marines Transfer Sheet
Well, the box does contain Space Marines, so it would be silly not to include one. Although, at this point, I think even if the box didn’t contain Marines** it would still have one of these in just to make sure you remember they exist.

What are your thoughts on the box? Are you excited for the new mission systems as well? Let us know on our discord!

*Please don’t try to rob a bank with it. You will be laughed at.
** Blasphemy!

Where to Buy
GW has announced it will be available for a two-week preorder from Saturday, 10th June, I have included GWs times below. I always advocate supporting your local independent stockists, following the idea of Pay where you play, but if you are looking for somewhere, and would like to support Woehammer, we do have a couple of affiliate links:

US
Not Just Gamin’ will be offering the Leviathan box with a 15% discount!

UK
Element Games will also be offering the Leviathan box at 15% below the RRP

Games Workshop, Ian Humpage, New Releases, News, Reviews, Sci-Fi, Space Marines, Warhammer 40k

Lion El’Jonson – Primarch Rules Revealed

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The primarch of the first legion has awoken from his slumber and returned to our tabletops. His rules are the latest Warhammer Community reveal. Let’s take a look at what he offers.

His stat line is very comparable to Guilliman’s, which makes sense as he could be argued as the ‘vanilla’ primarch. However there are some improvements including number of attacks and, most surprisingly, an additional leadership point.

The Lion does not come across as being especially tough either. With only toughness 6 and 9 wounds it would not take much for heavy weaponry to remove him from the field. There is currently no mention of a resurrection rule for him either so once he’s gone that’s it! He does have a couple of tricks up his sleeves though…

As with most Space Marine characters the Lion comes with a 4+ invulnerable save in the form of his shield. Whilst this is pretty solid it wouldn’t take many unsaved shots from heavy damage weapons (or a certain faction that can ignore invulnerable saves…) to put him back into his slumber.

This also has the ability to reflect melee attacks, dealing mortal wounds (to a maximum of 3) on any unmodified save rolls of 6. So coupled with his sword, Fealty, he is a definite melee threat.

The sweep profile will give him a total of 20 attacks into a single unit so, at strength 6 and AP of -3, that is most standard units sliced up in quick succession even without the 2 damage each wound causes. Then there is also a strike profile that gives him strength 10 attacks at AP -5 and 4 damage apiece. With a potential 40 damage output (averaging about 5.5 successful wounds, or 20- 22 damage, against most targets up to toughness 9 before saving throws) he has the potential to deal with most large foes.

The most interesting reveal is his ability to deep strike using the Forestwalk ability.This is a particularly good deep strike as it allows you to re-roll a charge roll. As the Lion appears to be fairly fragile against shooting this would be a game-changing roll.

As is the current issue with the existing edition, I see the Lion being another high value model that will either be snuffed out before he finishes his morning coffee or an absolute machine that will decimate an army as he moves from engagement to engagement. We have, however, not been shown his entire ruleset yet and there is no mention of a firearm. There is definitely one on the model and I doubt somehow that it will just be a heavy bolt pistol.

What are your thoughts on the Lion? Are his rules even worth looking at with the imminent re-write coming with 10th edition? Let me know!

Age of Sigmar, Blades of Khorne, Fantasy, Games Workshop, Hedonites of Slaanesh, New Releases, Peter Holland

This Week’s Age of Sigmar Releases

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Battletome: Blades of Khorne

UK Afiliate: Element Games £32.50 £27.62

Battletome: Hedonites of Slaanesh

UK Afiliate: Element Games £32.50 £27.62

Vanguard: Blades of Khorne

UK Afiliate: Element Games £85.00 £72.25

Vanguard: Hedonites of Slaanesh

UK Afiliate: Element Games £85.00 £72.25

Blades of Khorne: Realmgore Ritualist

UK Afiliate: Element Games £22.50 £19.12

Hedonites of Slaanesh: Lord of Hubris

UK Afiliate: Element Games £22.50 £19.12

Warscroll Cards: Blades of Khorne

UK Afiliate: Element Games £22.00 £18.70

Warscroll Cards: Hedonites of Slaanesh

UK Afiliate: Element Games £22.00 £18.70

Blades of Khorne Dice

UK Afiliate: Element Games £25.00 £21.25

Hedonites of Slaanesh Dice

UK Afiliate: Element Games £25.00 £21.25

Age of Sigmar, Fantasy, Games Workshop, New Releases, News, Tournaments

News – General’s Handbook 2022: Season 2 – Hot Takes

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Wow, outta nowhere Warcom just dropped some big GHB22 Season 2 reveals.

There’s a lot to digest even in such a small article, so let’s dive into some hot-takes – but not before offering up a kudos to GW for continuing the great new trend of accompanying reveals like this with a design interview video, that really helps us see a bit behind the curtain.

The first new rules to sink our hungry teeth into are The Key To Victory and Desperate Action. TKTV was rumoured for a while and is going to bring a lot more small foot heroes – WITHOUT a mount, not unique and under 10 wounds – out to play, for the obvious reason that your 100-150 pt hero, often with a clutch spell or aura was always super vulnerable to being sniped from half a table away by some coward with a good eye, and -1 to hit from Look Out Sir just didn’t cut it. But now, they’re safe in the knowledge that their companions aren’t just going to yell a half-assed warning to them, but they’ll make damn sure they can get the job done – UNLESS, of course (and this is mentioned in the video), your put your sneaky shooters into the Sharpshooter battalion which will allow them to target Galletian Champs as normal. It’s Bounty Hunters vs Expert Conqs all over again – only without one side of the equation being utterly broken and skewing the entire equation!

Desperate Action is an awesome new rule, and for my money represents the best things about AoS. Firstly, it adds a small incentive to whomever wins priority to actually think about taking 2nd instead of just smashing that DOUBLE button, and for the unlucky second-turner, they get an extra responsive action to help balance the odds – and as we move onto the next reveals we’ll see how that can be even more impactful beyond adding a CP chance to your hero heal, etc. Very cool and something I’m really excited to see, on the face of it.

Now these are going to tilt people immediately, but on closer inspection I don’t think it’s anything too scary – and in fact, I think it adds a really cool dimension to the game. Strike at the Opening is mitigated when you consider that the majority of foot heroes in the game are support heroes and therefore don’t hit very hard – with the exceptions being things like the Orruk Megaboss (and this def seems like a stealth Orruk buff).

Lead by Example looks again at first glance to be utterly brutal – but when you read closely you’ll see that not only will you have to be going 2nd to fight with your hero AND unit, but it essentially discourages you from then charging with either later in the turn, uses up both your heroic action slots AND requires that your opponent decided to stay in combat with you – or of course, charged you and didn’t kill you off. So, obviously it has potential but I think it’s really balanced by the timing of the activation, and will offer some good options against pin-type lists that rely on bogging you down and preventing you from scoring at all – and that’s the kind of tactical flexibility that could make this coming season one of the best yet.

Following in the footsteps of the 1-2 hero phase punch is a battalion that does exactly the same thing but in the normal combat phase – you may be familiar with this kind of rule if you’re a Soulblight or OBR player – and it’s not hard to miss the appeal of. I wonder if we’ll see the restriction here being non-reinforced infantry units? Either way, it’s an interesting rule that puts Orruk Brutes back on the menu and will hopefully see another few more recently maligned units get some more table time.

A knee jerk winner from this is Slaves to Darkness. With the way the Lord on Krackerjack works, combined with say, an Exalted (8 attacks, 4/4/1/2) and unit of Chosen in Galletian Command, you could activate four times in a row. I can see Orruk, S2D, Ogor, and SCE doing very well out of this.

Finally, some extra morsels.

These new options unlock fresh tactics and opportunities for devious generals, but they’re just the start. The General’s Handbook also includes a Realm spell for punishing units camping out on objectives, a new command ability to trade piling in for extra attacks, and a stockpile of artefacts and unique Aspect of the Champion enhancements reserved for GALLETIAN CHAMPIONS.

Warcom

Fairly self explanatory, but exciting to hear there will be some new, unique ways to kit out our little champs. The article also confirms that the book will merge matched play rules – meaning half the Battle tacs, grand strats and battleplans will return from Season 1 – and surely the new ones will revolve around Galley Champs.

Overall, this means your lesser-seen utility heroes, whether they can also throw a punch or not, will no doubt be crucial to scoring, so should really impact list making. Armies with access to good infantry shooting – think DoK bow snakes, KO, and Ogors, may run rampant with their ability to snipe Galley Champs and prevent extra scoring potentials.

All told, I think this is a hugely exciting preview.

And let me be the first to say (well, probably not, but I’ll say it anyway):
Fuck you Bounty Hunters, and good riddance.

Let us know your hot takes to our hot takes in the discord!

Age of Sigmar, Chaos, Disciples of Tzeentch, Dreadmund, Fantasy, Games Workshop, Getting Started with..., New Releases, Newcomer's Guide

Beginner’s Guide to The Disciples of Tzeentch

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The new Disciples of Tzeentch tome has arrived! If you’re a collector, you’ve likely already looked into what this book will bring you, but if not you can find out right here! If you’re brand new to Tzeentch, or if you just want to know what kind of mystic filth you’ll be playing down at your local club this October, allow us to fill you in.

Who is Tzeentch?

The chaos god Tzeentch is the herald of change, represented by mutated flesh and gouts of multicoloured flames that “transform” you into piles of ash. He is also a purveyor of both secrets and lies, hatching elaborate plans so convoluted and nefarious that if one seems to have failed he can simply claim that’s how he wanted it to go all along. Oh and he’s really into birds…?

Tzeentch’s followers include his daemonic hordes of imp-like Horrors, fire breathing raincoats inventively called Flamers, and mantaray-like flying beasts called Screamers. On the mortal side you can find the avian beastman Tzaangors, some of whom ride into battle atop daemonic frisbees called Discs of Tzeentch (which are themselves living creatures), and Tzeentch’s human servants the Karic Acolytes who are basically a bunch of bird cosplayers with the physique of a WWE superstar. Wizards of various shapes and sizes also flock (heh) to Tzeentch’s banners, notably the nefarious Gaunt Summoners who transport your slower units around through silver portals and this update’s signature foot-hero model the curseling, who is actually a buy-one-get-one-free champion with 2 heads and the ability to turn his opponent’s spells against them.

Tzeentch only has 2 monsters in the roster, not counting allies from other armies, but they are his greatest servants and extremely powerful Wizards to boot. The Lord of Change is a giant, bird-like daemon who’s mixture of spellcasting, combat potential and manoeuvrability makes them a versatile unit who add a great deal of value to an army. The named version, Kairos Fateweaver, does everything the Lord of Change does but a little better. You should expect to see these centrepiece models as part of many Tzeentch armies.

Coming soon to a table near you

How does Tzeentch play?

Tzeentch’s signature ability is Destiny Dice. At the beginning of the game a Tzeentch player can roll 9 dice and place them to one side. Before making most kinds of rolls the Tzeentch player can choose to expend one or more of the dice from their Destiny Dice and use its result in place of whatever roll they were about to make. This ability is absolutely incredible if used intelligently, and can guarantee success in game-changing plays like making a 12 inch charge to secure an objective or guaranteeing that your general survives by passing a crucial save roll.

Typically any Tzeentch list will include a variety of spellcasters churning out a varied mix of buffs, debuffs and mortal wounds. Every time a spell is successfully cast they also generate fate points which allow them to summon daemonic reinforcements so you should expect their forces to expand as the game goes on. Particularly if your opponent has a lot of wizards too, because even enemy spells will feed into Tzeentch’s summoning pool! They can also start the game with one of their signature endless spells already on the field and unable to be dispelled for the first battle round, including the powerful Burning Sigil which does mortal wounds to all enemy units in an 18” bubble and has the potential to summon a Chaos Spawn to frustrate your opponent’s movements. Frankly there are too many cool magical abilities and bonuses to list. Basically: they’re really, really good at magic.

Tzeentch has access to a lot of shooting, which combined with their magic output makes them deadly at range. Of course Tzeentch’s units tend to be quite squishy in exchange – unless they are able to buff their survivability with vital spells and abilities. The Arcane Shield spell for example can give a unit a 5+ ward, and all daemon units have a built-in -1 to be hit if they are standing close to a Daemon Hero (including the heroes themselves). Still, even fully buffed Tzeentch isn’t the tankiest faction in the game and you should treat them like the glass cannons they are. Don’t let your units get into a fight and trade blows. Make surgical strikes, only fight battles you know you can win, and abuse your relatively high mobility and summoning to control the board.

Horrors of Tzeentch have a unique ability that allows a Pink horror to split into 2 Blue Horrors upon death, who in turn become Brimstone Horrors when they die. This means that a unit of 10 pink horrors may not seem very imposing at first, but they are actually a whopping 50 wounds worth of meat shields! They are a perfect unit for holding objectives although at 250 points for 10 pink horrors it’s quite an investment for a Battleline unit that doesn’t do a great amount of damage without multiple stacking buffs. If you use them, you’re likely to want to invest in some heroes specifically to make them extra durable or extra killy and really get the most out of them.

Tzaangors and Kairic Acolytes are the other two main types of battleline, both of which are more traditional infantry with fairly well rounded stats. Tzeentch has 3 conditional battleline units however: Flamers, Screamers and Burning Chariots (which is a flamer, standing on a disc, being pulled by screamers, in a trenchcoat, trying to get into an R rated movie). On top of that they can include coalition units from both Slaves to Darkness and Beasts of Chaos, and allies from Slaanesh meaning that the range of models they can field is dizzyingly broad. In that respect, like the other chaos gods, there is a great deal of room for personalization in lists compared to other, more restrictive factions.

Should I play Tzeentch?

You’ll probably enjoy Tzeentch if you enjoy a more cerebral army. You really get what you put into this one: if you’re on top of your movement and are able to look several turns ahead Tzeentch’s rules will reward you with an army that can pull off all manner of tricksy shenanigans. It’s not the type of army you play if you just want to push everything into the middle of the board and roll dice until one side breaks. But if you mess up, you can get punished hard. The versatility of what Tzeentch can accomplish sometimes works against them, because although they can do a lot of cool things they can’t do it all at once. When the stars align however, you will walk away from the game feeling like an absolute genius. Honestly if you’re on the fence about starting this army try not to overthink it. After all, whether you’re aware of it or not, Tzeentch has already made this choice for you…

Age of Sigmar, Chaos, Danny & Patrick, Disciples of Tzeentch, Fantasy, Games Workshop, New Releases, Reviews

Disciples of Tzeentch: Battletome Review

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The Changers of Ways return! And fittingly, we’ve decided to try and change our review format a little. Mainly because, to support the new release, we’ve decided to break things up and create a conversational, high-level review, a more detailed guide to playing the faction, and the next in our ‘Getting Started’ style series.

So read on to discover what two of the finest (and by finest, we mean, ‘most attracted to bright colours’) minds of Woehammer had to say about the new Tzeentch Tome.

What’s CHANGED in this Tome? Eh? *cough*

Danny:  So, Patrick – let’s start with what we were hoping for from this book. Put simply, I was hoping for balance. I feel like 3e books (apart from the opening brace of SCE and Orruks, who suffered from time honoured first-book syndrome) have been wonderfully balanced, internally and externally. Such a control and magic heavy army as Tzeentch risked being problematic to balance, so I thought if they could make a few of the lesser seen units more viable without breaking the game, we could all be happy.   How about you?

Patrick: I like variety and flavor, and with a few exceptions (looking at you, Gore-gruntas) AoS 3e has been good about making enough units viable in each tome to prevent mono-build and spam lists. Like you said, heavy magic armies make that balance and viability a little more difficult, but I was mostly hoping to see some varied lists start to show up in the top 10 spots at tournaments.

As someone who plays against Tzeentch rather than as Tzeencth, a selfish part of me was also hoping that the army would be bad. I don’t think I got my wish.

Danny : Good segue to your ‘favourite’ 3 things about this book, and a one line summary of where you think it will land competitively?

Patrick: My favorite part of the book is the spell lores. There are two spell lores with 11 spells between them. All of those spells are great, with maybe one or two exceptions. Tzeentch players are going to be able to customize their Wizards to perform whatever specific task they want. Past there, I think the summoning mechanic is interesting, and generating summoning points with every spell successfully cast means that even high level units like Lords of Change will see summons. I also like that the mechanic gives some counterplay, since your opponent can technically block your summons by killing your heroes, or swarming them with units.

The Change Covens are also great, and you will easily see two different Tzeentch armies have very different playstyles based on the chosen Coven. While some are going to be chosen more often than others for competitive games, I think there is play for each. Guild of Summoners will probably see the most play, but there’s something to be said for Pyrofane Cult and Cult of the Transient Form, both of which improve the utility of your battleline units. Competitively I think we’re going to see this army float to the top for a while.

The options that are presented are strong. I will say that I think the army is going to suffer against some current top contenders, though. Thunder Kroak lists are going to create problems for spellcasting and may be effective enough to delay summoning, and some top-tier Stormcast and Ironjawz lists will present problems for Tzeentch’s relative squishiness. That all being said, Tzeentch was in a good position before this book came out. We’ll see if the win rate breaks the 55% barrier that they were already flirting with.

Big Bird Make More Stuff Cast Good Now

What about you? I expect that you have more experience to see some exciting changes.

Danny: Yep, the new Guild of Summoners capping the 2nd LoC summon at 18 is potentially huge, especially given there are now plenty of ways to generate fate points, including one off guarantee chunks of them. The spells, predictably, do kick ass too – the strongest for me is easily Arcane Suggestion due to the tactical flexibility of it. Choosing whether to turn off commands, -1 to hit and wound, or put an extra -1 rend on a unit is absolutely game-changing in many circumstances

Danny: I’m not sure I agree on the Change Covens though. I like that they offer plenty of conditional battleline now, but they’re definitely not all created equal. Eternal Conflagration giving extra rend to flamers is potentially very strong – combo with the above spell for -2 rend flamers for example, screened by horrors etc.   But I think Hosts Arcanum (one free unbind and nothing else), Transient Form  (very unhelpful fight on death on Acolytes with a 6 generating a Tzangor) (and Pyrofane Cult super niche extra damage from Acolytes shooting) are all hot garbage, basically, and I see no reason to take any of them outside of fluff or really loving your Acolytes and wanting to juice them to the max.

Patrick: Interjection: I do love fluff and Acolytes.

Danny:   Interjection noted!

As a counterpoint, I’m going to list my 3 least favourite things about the book.

1. A whole bunch of the artifacts are geared towards melee (e.g. Daemonheart being a once per battle, number of MWs equal to battleround within 1″ of the bearer) with no good melee heroes to utilise them.

2. The aforementioned Change Coven internal balance – I think there are basically 2.5 competitive ones and 3 assuredly garbage ones. It’s a shame, given they could really have been a way to elevate Tzangors or similar that doesn’t really exist anywhere else in the book.

3. Warscroll wise, there are quite a few heroes who just don’t really seem to have a well defined niche and are variations on a theme. There’s some missing identity and fun factor there for me.

Patrick: I 100% agree on the relics. There are some strong choices, but there’s never a good reason to put a melee-focused option on a Tzeentch Hero. You’re always better off with something that’s going to improve your spellcasting like the Nine-Eyed Tome, or your Destiny Dice mechanic like The Eternal Shroud. I don’t see a lot of good uses for the Arcanite Artefacts at all, though. Especially the “deal mortals equal to the battle round” appearing twice. That is either going to do nothing, or only deal a solid chunk of mortals too late in the game to do anything. I also don’t like the number of “feels bad” mechanics in the book.

The ability for a Lord of Change to simply turn your endless spells back on you is going to feel rotten every time it happens. The presence of a non-interactive Grand Strategy that only requires you to have Destiny Dice equal to or greater than 9 at the end of the battle is bad. It guarantees that you succeed without giving your opponent the opportunity to play around it.

Danny: Moving on – we’re not going to talk about every damn allegiance ability and army enhancement. Some stuff got taken away, some stuff has been streamlined – but let’s quickly talk about Arcane Armies, which is an excellent new rule allowing for a Tzeentch endless spell to be auto-cast before the start of the first turn, which can’t be unbound in the first battle round – how do you see that playing out?

This is huge!

Patrick: I really like Arcane Armies. I think we’ll mostly see the Tome of Eyes to get rerolls on casting. That will guarantee an effective first hero phase, especially for a unit like a Lord of Change, and push some summoning points early on. If the ability was not restricted to faction endless spells I think it would be broken. A guaranteed turn 1 purple sun, or deploying in a way for all of your wizards to get the benefit of the Chronomatic Cogs would be devastating. As it is, it’s a nice ability that won’t be game changing.

Danny: Tome of Eyes is great but it’s hard to overlook Sigil – the ability to do multiple instances of d3 mortals and turn stuff into spawn in both turns of the first battle round – maybe pinning units in place and killing more in melee is potentially huge. I think it is a game changer!

Now, we both agree the artifacts are, overall, a missed opportunity. Do we feel the same way about the command abilities? Any stand outs for you?

Patrick: The Command Abilities either stink or they’re amazing, and there isn’t a lot of in-between. Cult Demagogue providing a 1/6 chance of automatic casting without the ability to be unbound is incredible, and Arcane Sacrifice can seriously improve the function of your wizards early-game, since your opponent will generally want to deploy outside of the 18” danger zone. I personally don’t love the Daemon traits, they don’t seem to synergize well with what the units want to do outside of Arch-Sorcerer providing two extra known spells. (edited)

Outside of those, we are once again seeing a few abilities to improve the melee capabilities of your Arcanite units, which you will never take, and they wasted ink by putting them in the book. (edited)

Patrick: I’m interested in your thoughts on the matched play rules, particularly the grand strategies. I have some strong opinions, but maybe you can provide some counterpoints to my rage. (edited)

Danny : They’re undoubtedly strong. Maybe close or equal to the strongest of any book in 3e so far. Master of Destiny – ‘add the total value of your unused Destiny Dice – score the GS if they’re above 9’ is effectively guaranteed. The others are good, but why would you ever not take this one?

The battle tactics… Call for Change wants you to summon a LoC. In Summoners, with an obvious combo of Enhancements/units, you’ll be able to guarantee this on the appropriate turn at near zero risk. Mass Conjuration needs a wizard casts 3 spells that go off and aren’t unbound in a turn. You’re Tzeentch so this isn’t hard. Ninefold Dismantlemant asks you to kill a unit with 9 or more models, or a monster with 9+ wounds. This will be almost any unit, in reality, on the board. Reckless Abandon wants a moral more than 18″ from an enemy to complete a charge – bit naff but ways to get it done. And Tides of Anarchy wants you to take control of an objective from your opponent and have 9+ models within 6″ of it.

Now, as a DoK player I’ve heard plenty of salt about trivially easy to score battle tactics. They’re obviously one of the main vectors a book can become unbalanced along. And it’s pretty clear to see DoT are going to have an incredibly easy time of scoring 3-4 of their book tactics every game. Given I think the army plays the mission very well anyway, yeah I’m going to agree with your implication Patrick, these are over-tuned and almost impossible for your opponent to deny in most match ups.

Should we move onto the warscrolls? Who do you think are the biggest winners?

These guys hit hard now.

Patrick: The changes to Arcane Tome for the Fateskimmer and Fluxmaster are great. The security provided by a reroll alone is excellent, but adding 3 to the value of the second attempt makes most spells a guaranteed cast. The Blue ascribe is also an insanely flexible caster, and I expect we will see him used in most lists. The gaunt summoners created some rumblings over their new Lords of the Silver Towers ability, potentially one-shotting an enemy hero. The summoner has to survive the initial attacks to use the ability, however, and if an opponent can’t kill a Gaunt Summoner in one round then they deserve what’s coming.

I think Tzaangors Skyfires are going to show up a good bit, too. Their speed and flying makes them an excellent harassing unit, and the ability to ignore hit/wound penalties with their bows means they might pose a threat to more targets. Special shout out to Kairos Acolytes. I wouldn’t describe them as good, but Arcane Cataclysm made them pretty bad. The Battletome corrects all the changes, and leaves them pretty much identical to their 2e profile.

Danny: Agreed, Skyfires doing d3 mws on 6s combos nicely with Fate Dice, and I think a unit of 6 will be common given how reliably they can snipe off support heroes at range – their movement and relative durability make them excellent objective grabbers too. I think it’s fair to say everything that was already good, stayed good – including Screamers, even if they lost their extra damage to wizards, at 100 points and with their newly reliable combat profile, they’re fantastic value. In general, things got more consistent – especially flamers.

For me, the losers are Tzangors, on foot and Enlightened. I just don’t really get what they do now, aside from look pretty. I also nominate a fair few heroes – Curseling, the Ogroids, Tzaangor Shaman especially – as being highly uninteresting now. But overall, there are some serious buff bots here with plenty of fun and powerful rules. Be prepared to have many of your models turn into spawn…

Ok let’s wrap this up. I wanted to hold back my reaction to your competitive rating until now – and I think I agree. Some folks are bemoaning what the book has lost, but overall I think it contains board control (horrors, Sigil, fast cheap grabbers), extremely powerful magic, and A+/S tier matched play rules.

Weaknesses will be fast, aggressive armies and powerful shooting that can shut down their casting momentum. I predict it’ll take some time to bed in, but then we’ll absolutely see it taking down podiums but not reaching the heights of Nurgle, Seraphon or SCE – certainly not this season anyway.

Patrick: I completely agree. I expect that they will break the 55% win rate barrier. There are a handful of rules that they lost, but I think what they gained more than makes up for it. The only real complaint I have comes from me being an opponent rather than a player, but I don’t want to restate what I’ve already said. Overall, this is a great tome, and I think Tzeentch players have a lot to love.

And there you have it! Bird fans – agree, disagree, just want to talk about how good big birds are? Let us know in the comments, twitter or discord! We’d also love to know what you think of this review format. Don’t be shy now.



Dorward, Games Workshop, Getting Started with..., Kill Team, New Releases, Sci-Fi

Kill Team: Why You Should Play

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It has been a year since Kill Team 2021 ended my long hiatus from miniature related hobbies and got me painting and playing again. I’d love to introduce some more people to it.

Small but perfectly formed

Kill Team is an excellently sized game, and “size” is doing a lot of work in this sentence.

One box is all two players need

Kill Team: Into the Dark

Everything you need to play can be found in a starter box for £65 RRP (although it would benefit from more terrain) or a bigger season starter box (Into The Dark goes up for preorder on Saturday when we’ll find out pricing). Games don’t grow any bigger. You can swap out terrain, Kill Teams, and scenarios but there’s no pressure (or possibility without house rules) to have bigger armies.

It doesn’t take up much space

The game plays on a 30″ by 22.4″ board. I can have some friends round and have two games running on my dining table while a third goes ahead on my coffee table. It’s great for the space constrained and people wanting to run mini-tournaments at home.

It is fast

Once you know what you are doing, a game takes about an hour. It’s easy to arrange an evening with time for dinner, a chat, a game of Kill Team, and still be in bed at a reasonable time to get up to go to work the next day.

It’s engaging

Each player activates a small number (usually just one) of models at a time. It gives a fast, fun back and forth where the decision about which figure should take their turn next really matters.

Terrain is essential

KT2021 emphasises terrain. Cover can grant bonuses to saves or make a model impossible to target. Height advantages can eliminate that bonus or grant an automatic hit. Terrain features can be given narrative elements such as smoke stacks that provide a cloud of obscuring darkness… until they are turned off. The battlefield feels alive.

The terrain in the big box releases is great too. Some of it is brand new sprues, others are re-releases, but it is varied, looks great, and is fun to paint.

It has real tactical depth

As with the current edition of Warhammer 40,000, to win the game you need to focus on objectives. The interaction with alternating activations means that careful prioritisation of targets is vital. Do you activate your injured Sergeant to claim Objective 3 and run into cover, or lead with your Sniper to try to eliminate the enemy Comms Boy before he can claim Objective 5?

An injection of fun

Kill Team has been the most fun I can remember having wargaming, it’s got me back in the hobby and painting more than I ever have before. Maybe you’ll enjoy it just as much.

Dorward, Games Workshop, Getting Started with..., Kill Team, New Releases, Sci-Fi

Kill Team: Shopping To Get Started

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In the past year we’ve seen the release of a new edition of Kill Team. In that time we have had four big box products and the roadmap for the next year shows Games Workshop have no intention of slowing down.

With the release of Kill Team: Into the Dark imminent, now is a great time to consider getting into the game if you haven’t already. With the plethora of products GW is selling it can be a little tricky to work out what you need.

Kill Team: Into the Dark

I’m going to break down the options for you with a focus on official releases but with a couple of side steps into third-party options.

You need:

  • Miniatures
  • Terrain (including six barricades for a two player game)
  • Tokens
  • Dice
  • Measuring tools
  • The core rules for the game
  • The rules for the scenario you are running and for your kill team.

(Spoiler: Everything you need to get started is in the Kill Team: Into the Dark box but read on if you want some nuance).

You’ll also need a couple of things that GW won’t sell you.

  • Space for a 30″ x 22.4″ board
  • An opponent

The release pipeline

Big Boxes

Kill Team: Octarius

Each quarter GW starts selling a big box release with the summer box being the season starter. In 2021 that was Kill Team: Octarius (out of production). In 2022 it is Kill Team: Into the Dark. Preorders open on Saturday 3rd September.

The season starter boxes contain:

  • Miniatures for two Kill Teams
  • Terrain (including six barricades and a double sized cardboard board)
  • Combat gauges
  • Tokens
  • Dice
  • Tac Ops Cards
  • The core rulebook
  • The Kill Zone book (with rules for the two Kill Teams, the scenarios for the terrain, and the usual background and fiction you expect from a GW rulebook)

The other three quarters are slightly smaller in scope containing only:

  • Miniatures for two Kill Teams
  • Terrain (no barricades)
  • The Kill Zone book (with rules for the two Kill Teams, the scenarios for the terrain, and the usual background and fiction you expect from a GW rulebook)

Separate releases

With the release of each new big box, the previous box is phased out and the contents sold separately. This isn’t as good value if you collect everything, but does let you pick and choose if you don’t want all of a big box.

Some Kill Teams have more options for specialists than you can construct with the models in the box. Picking up a box with just the infantry miniatures to bulk out your list building choices is an option.

Generally the smaller releases are:

  • Miniatures for one Kill Team
  • The Kill Zone book with rules for two Kill Teams, terrain for a Kill Zone, and some background/fiction
  • Terrain (in various combinations)
Dark Eldar Kill Team

After the Kill Team: Octarius box we also saw

  • The core rules
  • A starter set with the same contents as Kill Team: Octarius but with smaller (and slightly cut down) books and without the larger terrain pieces or cards.
  • Killzone Essentials (with tokens, combat gauges, and six barricades).
  • Tac Ops Cards

Other releases

At the same time as Kill Team: Octarius GW brought out the Kill Team: Compendium. This book contains rules for constructing Kill Teams for every faction in Warhammer 40,000. If you have an existing army and want to use your existing miniatures instead of buying new ones, then this book is worth your consideration. Do note that Kill Team uses a small number of infantry, the Compendium doesn’t come with rules for every model in every faction.

There are a couple of pros and cons though. In favour of the Compendium teams, they are generally quite simple. You tend to end up with three or four model profiles so they are good for learning the game. They are also considered to be quite weak compared to the bespoke Kill Teams. The general consensus is that they should be considered placeholder teams before bespoke ones are released.

A couple of weeks ago, Warhammer Community released two free PDFs containing The Lite Rules and the rules for the Intercession Squad Kill Team. The latter has the simplicity of a compendium team, but is considered to be one of the more powerful lists in the game.

Up for preorder at the same time as Kill Team: Into The Dark are two more standalone Kill Teams and a book.

The Elucidian Starstriders and Gellerpox Infected were designed for the previous edition of Kill Team and now get their own separate releases. Kill Team Annual 2022 contains updated rules for them along with all the Kill Team rules that have been published in White Dwarf over the last year (covering factions such as the Thousand Sons and Adeptus Mechanicus along with additional terrain rules and scenarios).

Third Party Content

A few honourable mentions go to:

A Games Workshop miniatures game wouldn’t be what it is without some third party content providing some quality of life improvements.

BattleScribe — https://www.battlescribe.net — which provides list building tools for a huge number of miniature games, Kill Team among them.

KT 2021 Datacards — https://datacard.app/ — which takes the BattleScribe roster file and turns it into attractively formatted cards for use at the table.

Kill Team Token Sets by various third parties (many of which can be found on Etsy) in nice acrylic are a sturdy and attractive replacement for the cardboard ones GW sell.

So what should I buy?

To get the rules, tokens, combat gauges, and barricades (pick one):

  • One of the season starter boxes (Kill Team: Octarius or Kill Team: Into the Dark)
  • The Kill Team Starter Set
  • The Kill Team Core Book + Killzone Essentials
  • The free Lite rules PDF + Killzone Essentials

To get a Kill Team and their rules (pick one)

  • One of the big box releases (season start or otherwise)
  • The Kill Team Starter Set
  • A Kill Team miniatures box + the matching Kill Zone or Kill Team Annual book for them
  • Miniatures released for 40k + The Kill Team Annual, Kill Team Compendium, or Intercession Squad PDF that has a list for them

To get terrain (pick one):

  • One of the big box releases (season start or otherwise)
  • The Kill Team Starter Set (although you might want to supplement the terrain that come with it)
  • A Kill Zone book + matching terrain assembled from various releases
  • Whatever you cobble together

My recommendation is to pick up Kill Team: Into the Dark or, if your budget is a bit tight for it, The Kill Team Starter Set.

If you like the game, pick your favourite faction and get what you need to run a kill team for them as your second purchase.

Here’s to more people enjoying this great game.

Woeful Wargaming